Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary has defended the Government's policies for tackling growing unemployment.
He was speaking after the publication yesterday of figures that indicated an unexpected rise in the number of people signing on the Live Register last month to over 452,000 - the highest in 16 years.
Opposition parties said that not enough was being done to tackle unemployment and claimed the creation and protection of jobs was not a priority for the Government.
Mr Calleary said the Government was committed to tackling unemployment through a number of initiatives and said the figure would be reduced.
